Recently at Boing Boing Gadgets, we saw that the Duke Nukem trailer is the best thing at E3; that the Psystar case could be a mistake for Apple; and that LED candles can look nice after all.

John took a look at the awfully-named Zen Krystal "sports" MP3 player and a GPS car-tracker that's making a liar out of a traffic cop; Joel saw Ubisoft distributing crackers' fixes for video games and a neat look at design trends in Apple's official iPod docks; and Rob procrastinated and went to the DMV.

We learned the pros and cons of walled gardens; saw Sesame Street rescue a song ruined by use in an iPod ad; and watched the Fraunhofer institute wave an iPhone in sync with Radiohead's open-source music video.

Radioshack is to redesign its stores; Nvidia and ATI/AMD aren't looking so hot in the courtroom; and there are Guitar Hero-style T-shirts for all the instruments under the spittle-flecked ceiling

Tor Books is raffling off this gorgeous Asus Mini laptop that's been hand-painted by famed science-fictional artist Donato: all you need to do to win is sign up to get word when the awesome (yes, I've seen it) tor.com website launches:

As a promo for Tor.com, we asked Donato to paint an Asus mini computer which you, yes you, can win! To sign-up, go to Tor.com.

The first time I watched this I realized what makes Donato Donato. There's a point about third of the way through where I thought he was done....and then he keeps painting.

The computer is in my office and is supposed to be on display at ComicCon. It's been hard to bat co-workers away from it. Should it go missing, my list of suspects is long.

Link (Thanks, Patrick!)

This weekend, the Attendee Meta-Data (AMD) project at the Last HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) in NYC will introduce a new location-aware social networking system to track and bring together hackers based on a huge array of matching interests. Conference goers will be given unprecedented ability to connect with new people, find the talks they're most interested in attending, see what's happening and where in real time, and experience and talk about the way RFID technology is changing the world.

The AMD social networking site lets visitors "tag" themselves based on a diverse set of interests. Old-school hackers, network security experts, cryptographers, political activists, law geeks, lockpickers, reverse engineers, bloggers, privacy advocates, and far more—visitors can label themselves with multiple interests, to become discoverable by fellow visitors from around the world with similar interests, in the same room or across the building. Attendees can then use email or text messages to "ping" the people they discover on the site—new contacts and old friends alike.

The AMD site connects visitors to the many talks and events occurring during the conference, too. The same interests tags are used to highlight events and alert visitors to something they might otherwise miss—a vital feature for such a large conference. Attendees can also use the interactive schedule to select events they want to attend, and receive alerts before those events begin.

The site also provides visualizations of activity on the conference floors. Website users can watch the real time positions and movements of people across the Mezzanine, revealing the group dynamics of a massive number of people and instantly identifying the hotspots. Users can also click on any conference room to see its current event, speakers, and attendees.

Link (Thanks, aestetix!)

Today on Boing Boing Gadgets we saw these good-lookin' helmets from Jérôme Coste (which sadly do not include a face mask); an austere camper made from a Unimog; tape that makes perfect garden rows more simple; a Bioshock Big Daddy from scrap metal; the clever hacks of German prisoners; a single drawer which no one else thought was handy but me, apparently; a pocket watch with a gun inside; and a robot that was not a robot.

We got a little preoccupied with videogaming, as is our wont: EA harshing on the iPhone's accelerometer hardware (they're wrong, in my opinion); Sony claiming the PSP is dying because of piracy (here comes the PSPhone!); and a Wired blogger got a little too presumptuous in his Fallout 3 preview for some, although I think he's getting hung out to dry a bit.

John took umbrage with the claim that the mouse is dying and noticed that quad-core laptop chips are coming. Rob noted that a judge isn't having ATI and Nvidia's nonsense about trade secrets and that French women like to use their phones in the bath.

The Japanese did something weird/awesome. (Surprise!) That ripped cord flash drive is now for sale. The saga of an iPhone clone maker continues to be full of pathos. Nerds attacked. Someone put a USB hub in a VHS tape. And I — oh I — I dealed everything that you want me to. Ooh ooh.

David Wiggins rebuilt his M16 as if it were a DeWalt powertool. Rob has more over at Boing Boing Gadgets. DeWalt M16 (BB Gadgets)

The good folks at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have unveiled their fantastic HOWTO for recreating a 1958, oscilloscope-based proto-video-game called "Tennis for Two," created by a physicist named William Higinbotham "to improve what was an otherwise lackluster visitors' day at the lab."

Before we start, let's be clear that this is not a tutorial in how to build an oscilloscope. Tennis for Two is supposed to display on a 'scope, so beg, borrow, or buy one if you don't have one handy. Older low-end analog scopes like mine (a Hameg!) usually go for $50-$150, and if nothing else, you can always make a Scope Clock out of it later.

There are three parts to the electronics that we're building. First, there is the AVR microcontroller-- the brains of the outfit. The specific variety that we're using is the ATmega168, the same chip used in (for example) the Arduino platform. Secondly, there are two handheld controllers that connect to the ATmega168 microcontroller. Each handheld controller has a knob and a button. Third, there is the digital to analog converter that takes the output from the AVR and uses it to drive the scope.

Link

Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our John has the exciting news that Apple I BASIC has been extracted from an audio cassette and converted to MP3. It's actually got a pretty good beat.

They very first piece of commercial Apple software — a primordial flavor of BASIC originally released in 1976 that took thirty seconds to load — has been perfectly and authoritatively extracted from a yellowing audio tape and converted into a 38 second MP3, playable in iTunes. Plucky, hyper-intelligent beardos are now dissecting the file and learning its secrets, but their findings are a bit above my head.

Link, Discuss this on Boing Boing Gadgets

Recently at Boing Boing Gadgets, we saw new laptops from Sony and Lenovo, a space-age travel mouse, and an apoplectic video game fan.

Joel wants to know about home automation platforms, John needs Fallout 3, badly, and Rob, well, Rob's been playing with the robots.

And what robots! Pittsburgh's BigBots mini-festival is on, so we got electric lawn-mowing sheep, strange humming cables, cellular automata woodblock creatures, and, strangest of all, a clubhouse full of cool 1980s trash, inhabited by animatronic roadkill.

Back in the tubes, we saw SenseSurface stick-on screen knobs; Dell's $300 subnote; and the bright future of experimental solar energy.

ReadyBot is ready to see you; the springy Zing! spoon is ready to fling food at you; and Art Lebedev's new keyboard won't be ready for ages. Whether Psystar is ready for Apple's inevitable lawsuit remains to be seen!

Thinking of trying to combine your Gmail-based life with all of MobileMe's new stuff? Think again.

TokyoFlash's new Nekura series watches are awfully handsome (even if they're disappointingly easy to read!) -- I'm especially fond of this little puppy, known as the Tumbler. Wheels within wheels!

The Nekura series breathes fresh life into traditional time telling and is certain to be a fashion trend this season. Tumbler features a rotating disc effect, similar to that of a combination lock, with a vivid white dial beneath black glass and inscribed numerals which rotate to present the time.

Link

From the December, 1933 issue of Modern Mechanix, a "periscope for bridge kibbitzers":

AT A recent international bridge match the problem of letting people watch the play without interfering with the players was satisfactorily solved by the use of a horizontal periscope with one end suspended over the table and the other fitted through one wall of the room, so that the observers need neither be seen nor heard by the players.

From the observer’s standpoint this method of watching a bridge game is more satisfactory than standing by the table, as it permits a view of the cards held in all hands as well as a better look at those played.

Link

Etienne Meneau's "Strange Carafes" are pricey, hand-blown art-glass wine-decanters in the form of roots, or upside-down antlers. Pretty awesome -- though I'm fairly certain I'd turn mine into deadly shards (natural clumsiness) within minutes. Link (via Neatorama)

If you ever doubted, even for a second, that non-Newtonian goo (e.g., cornstarch and water) is from a totally different (and infinitely preferable) universe, behold! Cornstarch paste + subwoofer == proof positive. Link (via Neatorama)

This Rube Goldberg machine makes sheer delight out of the process of mixing a Falling Water ( 30mls (1Oz) 42BELOW Feijoa Vodka, lemonade, long slice of seedless cucumber, ice) -- it comes from Joseph Herscher, the same genius who made the Cadbury Creme Egg smasher. Link (Thanks, Sacha!)

See also: Rube Goldberg Cream Egg killer

Over at BB Gadgets, John spotted this "Hockey Organ" in which a hacked vintage Casio keyboard controls the action on a table hockey game. Graeme Patterson was the maker. Hockey Organ (Matrixsynth, via BB Gadgets) photos of the Hockey Organ (GraemePatterson.com)

Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, a majorly cool Etsy find by our John:

Etsy user tinyminds makes cheap, wonderful solar-powered robots for between $60-$80 each, but the one pictured here is christened after Lord Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft's sickly spawn of the stars. The Cthulhu bot sleeps until he soaks up enough light... at which point, he begins to madly thrash around his many sucking, tentacled limbs. "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn..." as the ancient prophecies write. Roughly translated? In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits recharging.

Link, Discuss this on Boing Boing Gadgets

Actually, his private elevator is built of PURE WIN.

Hamster with private elevator built of Lego [YouTube, thanks Jolon Bankey]

A University of Florida researcher is designing a flying saucer that uses plasma and surrounding air as its fuel to generate lift. The aircraft's skin will be studded with electrodes that ionize the air, converting it into plasma. Mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor Subrata Royh hopes to have a six inch working prototype in the next year.

Using an onboard source of energy (such as a battery, ultracapacitor, solar panel or any combination thereof), the electrodes will send an electrical current into the plasma, causing the plasma to push against the neutral (noncharged) air surrounding the craft, theoretically generating enough force for liftoff and movement in different directions (depending on where on the craft's surface you direct the electrical current)...

Theoretically, Roy says, the flying saucer can be as large as anyone wants to build it, because the design gives the aircraft balance and stability. In other words, this type of aircraft could someday be built large enough to ferry around people. But, Roy says, "we need to walk before we can run, so we're starting small."

The biggest hurdle to building a WEAV large enough to carry passengers would be making the craft light, yet powerful enough to lift its cargo and energy source. Roy is not sure what kind of energy source he will use yet. He anticipates that the craft's body will be made from a material that is an insulator such as ceramic, which is light and a good conductor of electricity. "In theory you probably should be able to scale it up," says Anthony Colozza, a researcher with government contractor Analex Corporation who is stationed at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and helped Roy draw up the original plans for powering the saucer. The choice of a power source that is powerful, yet lightweight is "probably going to be the thing that makes or breaks it."

Flying saucer (Scientific American)

UPDATE: As several commenters point out, saying that the saucer uses air as fuel, as I did in my post based on the SciAm articl, isn't really correct.

John Rogers -- who wrote the superb pilot for the stillborn TV show based on Warren Ellis's excellent comic Global Frequency -- has a new TV show in the works, called Leverage. TNT has a little trailer available (see embedded video above) and I was able to see the whole thing via BitTorrent. On the strength of both, I'd say that Leverage has the potential to be the first new TV show in more than five years that I would actually put my butt on the couch for, every week, without fail.

Leverage is an hour-long tensely plotted, technologically literate heist/caper show whose likable, flawed, comedic foursome of infiltration specialists are well-cast, funny, and given some damned good lines. The direction and camerawork is distinctive and fearsomely great: this show feels like a graphic novel (in a good way) -- that fast-moving, highly visual, stylized thing that the Wachowskis got so right in the first Matrix movie. It's a really neat trick: it feels like a cinematic graphic novel, one of those graphic novels that appears to be setting up every panel like it was a camera-shot. But those novels always transcend what a mere camera could do (because the artist is more flexible than the lens), so it was freaky to see a camera mimicking the stuff that the notional "hypercamera" of graphic novels uses.

Rogers is also a comics writer (Blue Beetle, among other things) and has had a diverse history in the field. I've been lucky enough to hang out with him a couple of times, and he really feels like "one of us" -- a net-centric geek with a gigantic D&D collection, a nonstop sense of humor, and a lust for all things gadgety. Link

See also: Screenwriter of cancelled, leaked Warren Ellis pilot marvels at his fanbase

Mr Jalopy sez, "I bought a vintage Marantz quadraphonic sound amplifier at a garage sale and have drafted a black light tinged ode to the competing 4-channel formats that never really panned out. "

I am not audiophile and I do not have a golden ear, but I am extremely interested in the blunt force trauma of the awesome clarity and unambiguous nature of completely rocking out. There are tons of quadraphonic albums on eBay and it is only a matter of time until I find a quadraphonic 8-track player at a garage sale for $1. Besides, it turns out quad receivers are selling on eBay for less than two rolls of quarters, so from a cost of fun perspective, some quad audio experiments are a pretty good value.

Besides the aforementioned technical snafus, there will be the issue of availability of key releases as I imagine Iggy Pop's "Raw Power" is not available in quad. What about Ziggy Stardust? And Black Sabbath's "Paranoid?" Or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, what if a friend excitedly brings over a quadraphonic Yes album and I am not able to keep from ripping it from the turntable to smash it to bits?

Link (Thanks, Mr Jalopy!)

This brass and leather Soviet gas-mask is the genuine article, not a steampunk fetish-fashion prop (though, of course, it could be both). Link (via Wired Gadget Lab)

Update: I take it back: it's a sculpture from the Ukraine, on sale on eBay

Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our John's dug up this magnificent zombie lawn-sculpture by Alan Dickenson, available for a mere $90 -- think of the savings you'll realize by no longer having to pay someone to keep the kids off your lawn! Link, Discuss on Boing Boing Gadgets

Recently at Boing Boing Gadgets, we debunked the robot Diggbot; wondered if Apple should redesign the MacBook Pro; marveled at an amazing modular musical instrument for kids; and chuckled at the Comicon Star Trike of 1982.

John spotted the world's tiniest RC choppers and Roku's open-source Netflix player; Tokyo Watch did the unthinkable; and Jackson Pollock painted his hi-fi, sort of. There was a fancy USB hub; a consumer wind turbine; a robot bartender; a portable moisture condenser for your pied-à-sietch; a polystyrene statute; and a Sci-fi USB tube speaker.

Finally, we saw a cool Apple patent for gesture-touch, and learned the truth behind the Gatling gun.

(Update: By total coincidental timing, the VA executive featured in this episode, Charles Ogilvie, announced today he's moving on from VA to do something that sounds equally cool with tech and entertainment. Details at the bottom of the post.)

[Xeni Jardin]: Last week, the Boing Boing tv crew was in San Francisco shooting a few upcoming episodes, and our friends at Virgin America (BBtv is shown on the in-flight entertainment system) invited us to come wander around behind security, and peek at the nuts and bolts that are the tech underpinnings of this airline.

They're about to launch in-flight wireless internet soon, and they're holding a competition for open source games, the winners of which will be available for people to play in-flight (entries are still being accepted).

Virgin America's head of in-flight entertainment, Charles Ogilvie, brought us on board a plane that was empty and at rest between flights. We poked around with the computers and displays (all Linux!) and we tried to IM our friends using the pilot's controls in the cockpit. This did not work so well.

My favorite part of this shoot: driving a VA pickup truck around between the resting airplanes, and peeking into the giant abyss where your bags are shuffled around on giant conveyor belt systems, hopefully towards your plane and final destination.

Link to Boing Boing tv post with discussion, downloadable video, and instructions on subscribing to the BBtv video podcast.

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(Disclaimers: BBtv is an in-flight entertainment partner with Virgin, but BBtv doesn't receive compensation for this. VA once asked Boing Boing to name a plane, and we did, but we weren't paid for this, either. VA has previously been a paid sponsor on Boing Boing the blog. This episode isn't an ad, and we weren't paid to produce it. All of us at BBtv sincerely thought this stuff was cool, and that Charles Ogilvie is a cool guy with interesting ideas, and we had a blast goofing around where the TSA folks generally do not permit one to goof. )

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Update, 07-03-08: BBtv learned today that Charles Ogilvie is moving on from Virgin America. We're bummed we won't be working with him there anymore! The timing of this episode and his move are totally coincidental, we weren't aware. Here's the note from VA CEO David Cush, after the jump, and congrats on your next adventures, Charles!

Happy 100th birthday, SOS!

There was some early success for the new system a year later when the Cunard liner the SS Slavonia was stricken off the Azores. She sent out an SOS and not a single life was lost.

Even so, not everybody was convinced instantly, and it took the tragedy of the Titanic to reveal just how vital a universal system was. After the collision in April 1912, the ship’s radio operators sent out both the old CQD and the new SOS signals, but some ships in the area ignored both, thinking that they were having a party. They soon learnt otherwise, as international headlines told how Jack Phillips, the Titanic’s first radio operator, and 1,500 others had been lost along with the “unsinkable” ship. The new SOS distress signal was rarely ignored after that.

Link (via Kottke)

Yasmine Sethi, a final year student at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. designed this Alice Chess Set inspired by Through the Looking Glass. When pieces are removed from the board, they become opaque, obscuring them while they're out of play.

The theme of 'Alice through the Looking Glass' is the difference between the real world and the world behind the mirror. In keeping with this theme there is a contrast between the unlit mirrored piece and the clear glass piece. Each unlit mirrored piece is a smooth and modern shape. Each lit piece is clear glass, with the negative shape of a traditional, delicate Staunton chess piece enclosed within it. In the book the White Knight talks about how he thinks better when he is upside down. In a reference, the White Knights in the set only work when they are placed upside down. This joke is hidden to all but those who know the background of the chess set

The Chessboard is made out of LightPoints a material manufactured by Schott, which is glass that has LED's embedded in it; the pieces are coated with Mirona, a Material that turns transparent when light shines through it. When the piece is placed on the board it completes the circuit and lights up the LED under it turning it transparent, like magic.

Link

Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our Rob takes notice of Netgear's new open WiFi routers, whose firmware and hardware are all modder friendly, designed to be improved by their owners to add new features.

Back in the day, Linksys slipped GPL software into its routers and was obliged to open-source the firmware as a consequence. The result was the much-loved, much-hacked WRT series, into which was added all sorts of fancy features usually reserved for business-class machinery. Netgear's getting in on this enthusiast-friendly game with the WGR614L, which is designed to be to tinkered with from the rubber feet-up.

Link, Discuss this on Boing Boing Gadgets

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets we spotted a weird Rubik cube, overclocked a Mac Pro that none of us actually own; and wondered how one fits a headphone amp in a CD-ROM drive.

What is it we do? We covet. John wants an MSI Wind running Leopard and a brilliant Invader Zim sculpture; Joel wants a vestal grenade watch and a kegerator-cum-boombox on his hitch; and Rob wants a Sound Chaser to pipe audio unicorn chasers into his ears after every bad phone is announced.

There was a hippy control net; classic flip clocks; a frightening Gigermobile; a homemade autogiro from China; an unexpectedly-useful ladybug gadget; a GLaDOS GPS hack; and a disconcerting Elvis Terminator thing.

Let there be music! If you don't like the AirPiano, try the Time Harp. The visual arts, however, are a different matter: destruction in the name of beauty and a video card with an identity crisis.

Lastly, loose lips won't sink ships with the flying dildo drone.

I've had rotten luck with voice recorders. Quite a few micro-cassette recorders have conked out on me over the years (sometimes while conducting interviews for magazine articles). Once I used a minidisc recorder and ejected the disk without first stopping the recording and I lost everything.

When I interviewed Martha Stewart for Wired last year, I used both a tape recorder and a microphone attachment for my iPod to record our conversation. When we sat down to talk, I decided at the last second to I pull out my laptop and used the built-in mic to record the conversation.

When I got back to the hotel room and turned on my three recording devices, I learned that the tape recorder and iPod didn't record the conversation (probably my fault), but the laptop recording was OK. If I hadn't used the laptop, I would have been dead in the water. No way would Martha have granted me another interview.

Currently I'm writing a book about DIY, and I'm interviewing a bunch of alpha-DIYers. As I'll be walking around talking to people in their yards, workshops, launch-sites, compounds, and so on, using a computer to record my interviews with them is not practical. Last week I bought an Olympus WS-110 digital voice recorder. So far, it's worked beautifully. The interface was pretty easy to figure out, and the built-in USB plug is very handy. I just stick it my computer and it mounts like a disk. I copy the file (WMA format -- bummer) and use ffmpegX to convert it to MP3. Then I use the excellent Listen&Type to play the audio file when I transcribe.

It uses a single AAA battery (advertised to run 21 hours per battery), and you can switch the microphone between dictation and conference mode. The 256 MB of flash memory records almost 18 hours in the high quality mode (which is what I use) and 69 hours in the lowest-quality mode. I guess you could use the thing as a jump drive, too.

I'll let you know if this thing let's me down, but so far I have a good feeling about it.

Olympus WS-110 ($64.68 at Amazon)

Neatorama's got a roundup of the dumbest anti-terrorism patents: no technology is too stupid and expensive to defend us against imaginary bombs!

U.S. Patent 6844817, Aircraft anti-terrorism security system, by Wolfgang Gleine. Issued Jan 18, 2005.

Problem: Terrorists want to hijack a plane by trying to break down the cockpit door.

Solution: After hardening the cockpit door, airlines should add the next logical step: airplane trap door that springs open to entrap terrorists below deck.

Bonus: Great prank to pull on the co-pilot going on a bathroom break.

Improvement Suggestion: Add an alligator pit to the trap door ...

Link (via Schneier)